Due out November 30th, this new platter of brutality will contain on side A “Ripped From The Cross” - a cover from the legendary Grotesque - and on side B “My Agony, My Ecstasy” - a cover of Novembers Doom.

Legendary Swedish death metal vocalist Tomas "Goatspell" Lindberg (AT THE GATES, GROTESQUE, DISFEAR) has contributed a foreword to the upcoming 744-page hardcover book "METALION: The Slayer Mag Diaries," by Jon Kristiansen. Lindberg's connection to Norway's Slayer Mag dates to the 1980s, when he and Kristiansen were part of a core group of Swedish and Norwegian headbangers during the wild early years of the Scandinavian extreme metal scene.

"Metalion and his Slayer Mag are responsible for me (and a lot of other Swedes) getting into the death metal underground," begins Lindberg. "I clearly remember how proud I was when Grotesque got a mention in the classic mag-this meant more to me than anything else at the time!"

Part anthology, part memoir, and years in the making, "METALION" includes over 600 reproduction pages from every issue of Slayer mag, spanning from the early 1980s through 2010. In addition, author Jon Kristiansen recounts his life's story, from alienated outsider to central figure in Norwegian black metal to world-weary metal survivor. The book also features over 100 rare photographs, including two color sections and a portrait gallery of photographs taken by Kristiansen himself.

"The greatest heavy metal story ever told" will be available June 6, 2011, wherever books are sold, and is available for preorder now with two bonus limited patches from Bazillion Points Books, "America's smallest but heaviest book publisher."

Sydney's annual Metalstock festival hits Manning Bar this weekend. Tickets to the festival can be purchased for a single day, or as a two-day pass. The timetable for this huge two-day event is as follows:

Metalstock, Australia’s only two day metal festival, is scheduled for the Easter weekend in March 2008, and has announced the second group of confirmed metal acts for this hugely anticipated event. The Festival will take place in Manning Bar, University of Sydney, on Saturday March 22nd (doors 3.00pm – 12.00am) and Sunday March 23rd (doors 3.00pm – 10.00pm). The full list of acts playing at Metalstock is as follows:

As well as three more acts, Metalstock will soon be announcing all metal stalls, giveaways, sponsors and extra entertainment. Tickets for Metalstock are now on sale from Moshtix outlets, Moshtix, or phone 1300 438 849. The prices for the Festival are as follows:

Classic Swedish death metal band GROTESQUE — featuring ex-AT THE GATES/THE CROWN frontman Tomas Lindberg — will perform at Storan in Gothenburg, Sweden on April 20. It will be the group's first public gig since 1991. Other bands on the bill include WITCHERY and GRAND MAGUS. The night of Swedish metal is presented by London-based Totalrock Radio. Tickets are on sale now at www.ticnet.se.